Description

The Greek National Opera’s online festival Waves of Light, in collaboration with the PPC and curated by Giorgos Koumendakis, features the first series of site-specific performances inspired by the Megalopolis Steam Power Station.


THE BIRTH OF AN ABSTRACT ENERGY ENTITY
Gavriil Farilekas

This piece is an animation combined with edited photographic material from a visit to the factory in Megalopoli. The video features original music and sound elements. The story unfolding within it is as follows:
“On a rainy day, amidst a raging storm, at the heart of the electric power factory in Megalopoli, a wave of abstract energy was born from the collision of charged particles in the atmosphere. This entity emerged as a bright being of light, vibrating with raw power. It hovered over the factory, electrifying the air around it. When the storm calmed, it started to explore its newfound existence, illuminating the darkness with its radiant glow. Wherever it passed, machines would buzz to life, fueled by its ethereal energy. This entity moves through areas where the machines sit inert and lights flicker dimly. With just a touch, this luminous figure breathes new life into the various factory parts, imbuing them with vitality and vigour, and forever changing the course of history for those within its sphere of influence. Now, it continues to live as a guardian of light and power within the industry.”

The Greek National Opera assigned the organisation of a cross-university / interdisciplinary arts workshop focused on the Megalopolis Steam Power Station to the Department of Performing and Digital Arts at the University of the Peloponnese, involving eight university arts departments from across Greece. As part of the online festival titled Waves of Light, 20 young artists and artistic teams from university departments throughout Greece drew inspiration from the striking sites of the old PPC factory in Megalopolis to create 20 new site-specific digital works for GNO TV, the GNO’s digital platform. These works are grouped into various genres that fall within the broader fields of performing, visual, and digital arts. The music and scripts in these works are inspired by the spaces, history, and people who worked there.
Participating in this workshop were students from the following departments: Department of Music Studies (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Department of Visual and Applied Arts (University of Western Macedonia), Department of Culture and Creative Media and Industries (University of Thessaly), Department of Theatre Studies (University of Patras), Department of Sound and Image Arts (Ionian University – undergraduate and postgraduate programmes), and the Athens School of Fine Arts.
PPC, a leader in Greece’s electrification through its emblematic factories, has evolved into an active cultural agent, offering its historical sites as a canvas for contemporary artistic creation. Through the Waves of Light online festival, PPC contributes to repurposing industrial landmarks into vibrant reference points between the past and the future, where energy meets art.

Creative team – Cast